Hard Nosed Big Game Hounds

Luwire Photographic Safaris

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

This band runs their entire PA system off a 12 volt battery. They also made all their instruments by hand. They played for my 55th Birthday on the sand beach of the Lugenda River in front of our dinning room. Derek arranged the surprise and "A Good Time Was Had By All". The band rode into camp on a trailer pulled by a tractor. Not only did the band come but they brought about 10 male dancers that danced to the rhythm of the music much like some of the old R and B groups of the 60s.
It was very cool and I'd like to thank the whole staff of the Luwire Safaris, Derek and Paula for a most memorial Birthday. Wired for sound came and recorded them later that year and they have put out a cd you can order on ITunes.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Friday, October 17, 2014

"Stuff is eaten by dogs, broken by family and friends, sanded down by the wind, frozen by the mountains, lost by the prairie, burnt off by the sun, washed away by the rain. So you are left with dogs, family, friends, sun, rain, wind, prairie and mountains. What more do you want?" Federico Calboli

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Well, a few weeks ago I finished up the eight month sculpture project I had been on. It had basically put me in a fog that I needed to clear up. I will post pics as soon as it is dedicated, it was a municipal project so were keeping it a bit under raps till unveiled publicly. You can go to "audwinpierremcgee"

on Facebook and see a few pics of progress. As I was saying I needed to get out of that fog so what better than to get the old WILLYS I had traded for into the shop and start whacking away. So here are a few pics of the before and underway. Cutting down and stretching, adding a little flat bed for dog boxes, swapping in a V6 Dauntless, later model 4spd and transfer case, later model front axle with disc brakes and power steering and a few other options I have dreamed up.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

I have a lot going on right now, a large commission piece, training dogs, grandkids out and about for the summer, training dogs, lots of overdue projects, dogs, writing some thoughts and ideas for short stories, dogs, and just taking time to enjoy life for a change. So, I just wanted to let anyone interested know that as you can see the blogging has been suffering and will continue to be slow if not completely void for a few more months. Hopefully by the end of July I will be caught up and can again begin to add content that I am satisfied with. Until then I hope every like minded free thinker that reads "Sons of Savages" has a good go at life this summer. Be safe, trust in the only "God" out there for everything and "Defend the Republic" at all costs.
And.
Keep your dogs fed, love on the kids more than usual, and never sweat the small stuff.
The big stuff, well it can't eat you!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Canelo in Cádiz, Spain, used to walk with its owner to the hospital where he was receiving dialysis treatment. In 1990 his owner died at the hospital. Canelo died outside the hospital after 12 years waiting. The town Cadiz put his name to a street and a plaque in his honor.

Street and plaque honoring canelo

Capitán, a German Shepherd Dog, ran away from his home in central Argentina, after the death of his owner Miguel Guzmán in 2006. About a week later, Guzmán's family found Capitán standing guard at Guzmán's grave after finding the cemetery on his own. When brought home, Capitán again ran away back to the grave of his former owner. As of 2012, he continues to stand vigil over his owner's grave and receives provisions from the cemetery staff so he does not need to leave.[20][21][22][23]

Constantine, German Shepherd Dog aka Kostya or Faithful Kostya, in the mid-1990s in Togliatti, Russia - a family died in a car crash during the summer of 1995, leaving the dog as the only survivor. A German Shepherd Dog, named Constantine by the locals, kept coming to the same spot for the next 7 years braving freezing winters and hot summers. The Monument of Devotion - a bronze statue honouring the dog's loyalty was placed on that spot in 2003 by the city authorities .[24][25]

Dżok, the dog.[26][27] Throughout the entire year (1990-1991) Dżok was seen waiting in vain at the Rondo Grunwaldzkie roundabout in Kraków, Polandto be fetched back by his master, who had died there.

Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye Terrier in Edinburgh, Scotland, was loyal to his master long after his master's death in 1858. Until Bobby's death 14 years later, he reportedly spent every night at his master's grave.[29] A statue in memorial of Greyfriars Bobby was erected near the graveyard.

Hachikō, an Akita who became a symbol of loyalty in Japan, is now honored by a statue in Tokyo. Hachikō is famous for his loyalty to his long dead master Hidesaburō Ueno, by returning to the train station and waiting for his return, every day for the next nine years during the time the train was scheduled to arrive.[30]

Hawkeye, a Labrador retriever, stayed by the coffin of his owner, Jon Tumilson, a Navy SEAL who was killed in Afghanistan in 6 August 2011 when the CH-47 Chinook he was riding on was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade.[31]

Heidi, a Jack Russell Terrier, made her way down a 500-foot (150 m) drop in Scotland to get to the body of her owner (after he fell to his death while hiking) and stood guard over his body for 2 days in 2001.[32]

Heihei (黑黑), a black dog gave evidence to police to identify the killer of his old mistress. He was later buried with her.[33]

Huang Huang ( Chengdu, southwest China)spends ten hours searching every bus that passes, sniffing seats and searching for his owner every day after he was lost without a trace.He repeats the same tragic routine. He waits at the stop, boards the bus and sniffs every seat, trying to find his master.[34]

Leão, a mix breed who stayed by the side of her owner who died on January 2011 during Brazil's flood. His owner was Cristina Cesário Maria Santana. Her body (along with other 3 bodies of members of the family) was retrieved by the rescuers after looking at the dog digging over some mud.[35]

Spot: In November 2010, five months after his owner, Wayne Giroux of Lone Oak, Texas, was killed by a drunk driver, a local television station reported that Giroux's Great Dane-mix, Spot, was still traveling daily to wait for Giroux at a spot on a country lane where Giroux used to meet him.[37] The story was quickly picked up and disseminated by international media outlets such as CNN.[38]

Squeak, a Jack Russell Terrier who would not leave the body of his owner, Zimbabwean farmer Terry Ford,[39] after Ford was murdered in 2002 by a violent mob carrying out Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's land seizure programs.[40] The photo of little Squeak guarding Ford's bloody body raised worldwide awareness of land-related violence in Zimbabwe.[41]

Theo, an English Springer Spaniel belonging to Lance Corporal Liam Tasker of the British Army. Theo was used to sniff out roadside bombs in Afghanistan. In 2010, Theo and Tasker were in a firefight with insurgents, killing Tasker. Theo died later at a British army base from a fatal seizure, although many believe he died from a broken heart. Tasker's body and Theo's ashes were returned to England where Tasker's family was presented with Theo's ashes in a private ceremony.[42] In October 2012, Theo was posthumously honored with the Dickin Medal, Britain's highest award for bravery by animals.[43]

Waghya, Chhatrapati Shivaji's pet dog. Waghya is known as the epitome of loyalty and eternal devotion. After Shivaji's death, the dog mourned and jumped into his master's funeral pyre and immolated himself. A statue was put up on a pedestal next to Shivaji's tomb at Raigad Fort.

Statue of Waghya, symbol of pure loyalty and devotion in India

Sources disagree about whether Waghya was an actual dog [44] or a fictional dog.[45]

The yellow dog of Lao Pan. After Lao Pan, a poor 68-year-old Shandong villager who lived alone, died in November 2011, his home was cleared, and his unnamed yellow Spitz-type dog disappeared. Villagers later noticed the dog had found Lao Pan's grave and tried to bring it back to the village, but the dog refused to leave. They tried luring the hungry dog back to the village with some buns, but he took the food and ran back to the site again. Villagers felt touched by the dog's behavior, arranged to provision him daily at the grave, and as of a week later when the first reports appeared, had decided to build him a shelter there. The story broke locally, was picked up by national media, and was being run by many international media outlets by mid-December.[46]

Tommy, a 7-year-old German Shepherd Dog, still goes to church where its owner’s funeral was held. The owner, Maria Margherita Lochi, used to come, with Tommy, to the Santa Maria Assunta church in San Donaci, Italy. After she died, the dog was present at her funeral service and followed after Maria's coffin. The father of the church, Donato Panna, said, "he waits patiently by the side of the altar and just sits there quietly. I didn't have the heart to throw him out—I've just recently lost my own dog, so I leave him there until Mass finishes and then I let him out."[47] Tommy passed away on January 20, 2014 after an illness.[48]

An unnamed dog drowned itself after its master, aged 77, died after 18 years with it.[49]

Ch. Whippoorwill Wild Agin Has Died

BOSTON, GA. — National Champion (2008) and prominent sire Whippoorwill Wild Agin died recently due to the infirmities of advancing age. Wild Agin was bred by Dr. Jack Huffman at Whippoorwill Farm in Michigan City, Miss., where the son of Whippoorwill Wild Jack ex Whippoorwill Girl was born and raised and trained by Larry Huffman for owners Dr. Jack Huffman and Dr. Terry Terlep.

The Huffman family — Piper, Larry, Wyatt and Ty — all had a hand in the raising and training of the pup named Jack.

Wild Agin started his field trial career as a Derby in 2004 with five open Derby wins, including runner-up at the All-America Derby Championship. Jack went on to win nine open all-age events including the National Championship in 2008; the American Quail Classic; twice winner of the Southern Championship and named runner-up of this event on two other occasions; runner-up in the Mississippi Championship and winner of the Benton County twice. He was a competitor with considerable talent, courage and stamina.

Wild Agin’s ability to sire winning offspring was his forte and he passed many of his physical athletic attributes to his offspring. He was an individual with a beautiful stride and his sons and daughters show the easy running style that carry them over a lot of ground with very little effort.

Upon his retirement in 2010, Jack moved to Boston, Ga., where he lived out his days enjoying life to the fullest. Always a happy dog, he was a pleasure to be with and he enjoyed human friendship and attention. He was the noble animal he was meant to be and he always did the usual unusually well throughout his life.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

For the first time in all the years we’ve been married, Darleen and I are down to one dog. We’ve never had less than three, and at one point, due to circumstances beyond our control (soft heads, soft hearts, dogs in need of rescue) we had five, and the chaos level in the house was on a par with a badly run kindergarten. Imagine the lunatics not even bothering to run the asylum. We have decided to keep it down to two, but that still leaves us one dog shy, so we drove down to the nearest city to see about rescuing a dog. I’m not sure why, but southern California seems to have more than its fair share of irresponsible pet owners. Between three and four million dogs and cats are euthanized at shelters all across America every year. That translates to roughly 80,000 animals a week, and the shelters in southern California are overwhelmed. Apparently large numbers of people labor under the misapprehension that neutering old Rover or Miss Tabby is somehow cruel. Or maybe they’re just so dumb they don’t even think of it at all. The Audubon Society claims that the single greatest killer of migrating songbirds is the domestic (or feral) cat, yet people all over the nation think it is cruel not to let their cats out to play. It is possible the birds who get played with have a different perspective. And every mentally negligible moron in the country seems to think his dog is worthy of reproduction (“Let the kiddies see the miracle of birth.” I have actually heard that.) with the result that every time you go to the local shopping mall there are kiddies standing out in front with cardboard boxes of puppies they are trying to give away. Or starving pit-bulls running loose along the interstate. Or unidentifiable messes of bloody fur on the asphalt. In the years we have lived in our little rural corner of the mountains, ten miles out from a very small town, Darleen and I have averaged two stray dogs a year on our property. For the first four or five years we earnestly tried to find the owners, but after one such paragon of compassion told Darleen on the phone, “Ah, just kick him in the gut and send him on home,” (that’s a direct quote) we stopped trying to return them. Now we feed them and take them down to the shelter or, if injured, to our local vet. If you’re too stupid and irresponsible to get your dog micro-chipped, and you can’t be bothered to even keep a collar with a tag on him, you don’t deserve to get him back. But rescuing a dog is not as easy as you might imagine. We had to rule out a wide range of the shelter’s offerings. Pete is a male, a male with a tendency for brawling, and I have broken up more than my fair share of dog fights during my life, so it’s female only. We ruled out dogs with obvious communicable diseases, and dogs that showed any signs of aggression toward people or toward Pete or toward cats. After that we ruled out various characteristics or breed types that would make our lives miserable for one reason or another. We spent two days at two different shelters and finally gave up. The best of the bunch was a sort of Labrador kind of cross that had been neglected in a backyard for so long that it had reached a state I can only describe as catatonic in terms of its reactions to humans. She was fine with Pete, but completely unresponsive to the vet tech, to me, to Darleen. I can understand a dog being unresponsive to me, but if a dog is unresponsive to Darleen, it has serious problems. A pet rock would respond to my bride. So we are still, for the time being, a one-dog family. But what the experience left me with was a conviction that there is something seriously wrong with man’s relationship with his best friend. And if man can treat an animal with such callous disregard, how will he treat his fellow man? I don’t think we’re going to see peace on earth anytime soon.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Went out yesterday looking for Hogs, found a little sign here and there along the river bank but mostly just wanted to get out a while. One of my favorite spots! Blessed to have this area in my back yard.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Got this from a friend, you may have seen it but I hadn't and thought it worth sharing.

AFTER FLIGHT 77 HIT THE PENTAGON ON 9/11, THE FOLLOWING HAPPENED

A chaplain, who happened to be assigned to the Pentagon, told of an incident that happened right after Flight 77 hit the Pentagon on 9/11.

A daycare facility inside the Pentagon had many children, including infants who were in heavy cribs. The daycare supervisor, looking at all the children they needed to evacuate, was in a panic over what they could do.

There were many children, mostly toddlers, as well as the infants that would need to be taken out with the cribs. There was no time to try to bundle them into carriers and strollers.

Just then a young Marine came running into the center and asked what they needed. After hearing what the center director was trying to do, he ran back out into the hallway and disappeared. The director thought, "Well, here we are, on our own."

About 2 minutes later, that Marine returned with 40 other Marines in tow. Each of them grabbed a crib with a child, and the rest started gathering up toddlers.

The director and her staff then helped them take all the children out of the center and down toward the park near the Potomac ..

Once they got about 3/4 of a mile outside the building, the Marines stopped in the park, and then did a fabulous thing - they formed a circle with the cribs, which were quite sturdy and heavy, like the covered wagons in the Old West.

Inside this circle of cribs, they put the toddlers, to keep them from wandering off. Outside this circle were the 40 Marines, forming a perimeter around the children and waiting for instructions. There they remained until the parents could be notified and come get their children.

The chaplain then said, "I don't think any of us saw nor heard of this on any of the news stories of the day. It was an incredible story of our men there.” There wasn't a dry eye in the room.

The thought of those Marines and what they did and how fast they reacted; could we expect any less from them? It was one of the most touching stories from the Pentagon.

It's the Military, not the politicians that ensures our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It's the Military who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag.

If you care to offer the smallest token of recognition and appreciation for the military, please pass this on and pray for our men and women, who have served and are currently serving our country, and pray for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Sunday, February 16, 2014

"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history, when everybody standsaround reloading". . . . .Thomas Jefferson . . . ..or........... somebody with a classic southern presence that can talk seriously while allowing the ignorant liberal mind to think he just made a joke!

I copy this article for you because I worked in this area for 5 years with Derek and others. We heard often of the Lions on the Rovuma river taking people. Many went to try their hand at eliminating them but they are very cunning and human savvy. It is said they are descended from the Lions of long ago back to Livingston's day when the Lions would feed on the remains of discarded slaves en route from the interior to the slave auctions on the coast and have kept in their DNA the intelligence learned over time as to the hunting and eating of humans.

Change comes slowly to northern Mozambique. Wally Johnson, hunting legend of the last century, worked the area and shot some very big tuskers there. He noted of the native Makonde people that "their women all had a two-inch nail sticking through their upper lips." Originally an ornamentation, it also had the happy result of making them unappealing to the Arab slavers that trolled through Makonde villages seeking to stock the sultan's harems.

During the independence conflict a generation ago, the area became a war zone as Portuguese colonial troops battled insurgents coming south out of Tanzania. The guns went quiet in 1974, and African nationalists took power, but rural villagers here live a primitive life largely unaffected by political trends.

Villagers are mostly Muslim, some are animist, but witchcraft is rampant and there are dark whispers of cannibalism, widely practiced in days of yore, creeping back into the local culture. And, just as they have done for centuries, the roars of man-eaters that roam this wild land continue to send waves of pure terror through a vulnerable populace.

Straddling the Lugenda River, with the Rovuma River to the north, this is a vast, unruly wilderness where granite inselbergs (rocky obelisks) burst above the bush like gigantic tombstones and dominate a forbidding landscape lined with labyrinthine river systems. As they near the sea, the rivers widen into a lush littoral, and along these pristine watercourses, elephants sometimes journey all the way to the surf.

The few outsiders who visit here legally come to hunt the coutadas, or safari concessions, and these licensed hunters and their scouts are on the front line of the area's latest war, against organized, effective, and violent ivory-poaching gangs.

"The Somalis have been the biggest problem," says PH Steve Liversidge. "They have taken a steady toll.

"Much as I loathe these poachers, I must admit they're tough and aggressive, and some are bloody good elephant hunters. I found seven big bulls in a pile put down virtually atop one another by a single shooter. It was a stunning display of fine musketry. I went after him, but he gapped it out of the area at speed."

Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images

Return of the LionsInto this vacuum of lawlessness, lions have moved in from southern Tanzania and the interior of Mozambique. Increasingly these cats are adding humans to their menu. One explanation for the increase in man-eaters is that bushpigs have become a dietary mainstay for lions living near settlements. The pigs invariably feed at night in cornfields, which are often guarded by crop-protecting villagers. When the lions come hunting, they come into close proximity to people, and the cats develop a sense of familiarity that breeds lethal contempt. Sleeping sentries become collateral targets, and once the lions appreciate the ease of the kill, they add human flesh to their diet.

"There's something unusual about the relationship between man and beast in this place," says Derek Littleton, a resident professional hunter. "The folks here are generally docile, shy, self-effacing. Lions are generally wary of man, but here that's not always the case. They almost lord themselves over the people in some places. Lions do not take the same liberties with the Maasai, for instance. They'll attack them, too, but they're a damn sight less brazen about it."

Exacerbating the threat, there is a dearth of horned game in some areas, and in those places humans constitute the most convenient form of nutrition. The conventional wisdom is that man-eaters are generally old, infirm, or wounded. That does not apply here. There is a report of one lion on the Rovuma who is thought to be accountable for the deaths of more than 40 people. When they caught up with him, it was discovered he was only four years old.

Littleton has been following hard on the tracks of one of the most prolific predators in the area for more than a year now.

"He's a cunning fellow. Operates alone, moves into an area, and he's not shy about announcing his arrival by roaring into the night," says Littleton. "The villagers light fires, some sleep in tree platforms or barricade their homes, but he bides his time until things settle down. On one occasion, he broke through a door and attacked a child but couldn't bite through the heavy straw mat that shielded the kid."

Failing to breach the door on another hut, the cat leapt onto the thatch and went in through the roof to snatch a young girl inside.

"He kills, then moves a big distance, and it's hard work following him," says Littleton. "A lot of the ground is rocky and hard, making tracking tough, but I'm going to get him."

Anticipating an attack one night, Littleton waited outside a village but heard nothing.

"When I gathered my kit in the morning, I found a human shoulder bone a short distance away. He had eaten while I waited. He's a confident killer."

Such is the confidence of the lions that they have even moved close to the coastal town of Mocimboa da Praia. One victim, a disgruntled gambler, emerged from the local casino to take stock of his losses under a mango tree. Unbeknownst to him, a lioness lurked in the branches above, and just when he thought his evening could get no worse, she alighted upon him. At the end of the encounter, he had to reconcile himself to having lost not only his money but also part of his bottom. Luckily, a crowd collected and scared the cat away, and the punter lived to lick his wounds.

Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images

The Sacred CatAdding to the woes of those who seek to deal with the killers is the curious attitude of the locals, many of whom believe the lions are merely acting on behalf of aggrieved ancestral spirits seeking to purge the community of those possessed by evil.

On one occasion, a hunter on fresh tracks, close to making contact with a small group of males that had been raiding villages, was ordered to halt by an official in the civil administration. It was discovered later that tribal leaders and cuchucuheiros (witch doctors) had intervened and lobbied the authorities strongly on the lions' behalf. The issue became political and the local administration bowed to the tribes' demands. The lions were left to kill again.

But man's problems in the area do not end with lions, says hunter James Egremont-Lee.

"Most interesting for me are the man-eating hyenas that terrorize some of the coastal villages south of Mocimboa da Praia," he says. "The vegetation is denser, and there are plenty of lions, but in this area the hyena are the dominant threat. They move in packs and are so brazen that they actually haul victims out of their huts. A nightmare situation, hearing the hysterical, almost diabolical cackling of hyenas gathering to attack you in your home.

"We had six people killed by hyenas in coastal villages near us, and 14 taken by crocodiles. It's not a neighborhood for the faint-hearted."

Lions wreak their share of havoc on the eastern coast, too.

"My first experience with [coastal] lions was at a village on the Lugenda," recounts Egremont-Lee. A young girl was sleeping with her family on the veranda of their hut, where they might be cooled by the breeze. "She was plucked from her bed and carried away, but the noise awoke a relative who gave chase and the child was mercifully discarded. Luckily, none of the punctures were into the bone, the infection was treatable, and she recovered."

A less fortunate girl, snatched in full view of a crowd squatting around an evening fire, was spirited into the surrounding bush. When the villagers gave chase, the lion dropped the girl, turned on them, put them to flight, and then slunk into the night to consume his quarry.

And so, the ancient contest between man and beast continues in this east-African wilderness, by turns enduring and resisting the vagaries of modernity. George Adamson, the author of Born Free, warned that nature would strike back at civilization that intruded too deeply into wild places. Perhaps the lions of northern Mozambique are in that vanguard.

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COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Audwin McGee and Sons of Savages (www.sonsofsavages.com), 2008-2009-2010-2011,2012,2013,2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sons of Savages with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

About Me

I’m a Southern Boy, just 56 last November, I get around here and there, Central America, Africa, Red Bay. I’m a Father, Grandfather, Husband, Artist and general flunky of sorts. Live in a little historic town in an old building I remodeled. Just wanted to hear myself think I guess, talk about the need of simplification, show some art, express an interest or two, brag on my dogs and see where it goes. That’s it!, That’s the deal, Thanks